James Jordan (21 June 1793 – 10 September 1866) was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket from 1822 to 1824.

Jordan was born at Chatham in Kent in 1793. He worked as a ropemaker in Chatham Dockyard and was a publican, keeping The Black Lion public house on the Chatham Lines for a period.^[1][2] He known to have played for Gillingham Cricket Club from at least 1816, appearing in the same year for an East Kent and Sussex side against West Kent and Surrey. Although few scorecards survive from club matches in this period, he is thought to have been a prolific batsman during this period.^[1]

Described as an aggressive batsman who was "quick on his feet" and willing to play shots,^[1] Jordan made his first-class debut for the Players in the 1822 Gentlemen v Players match at Lord's. He was the top-scoring batsman for his side, making 38 runs in the first innings and 33 in the second, before going on to play for a Kent XI against MCC at the same ground the following week, again top scoring, this time with a score of 86. He made two further first-class appearances in 1822, scoring 56 for Kent against MCC in the return match at Chislehurst before making 94 for an England XI at Lord's.^[1][3]

In 1823, Jordan scored a century for Gillingham against Leeds in a minor match before repeating the feat for Kent, making a score of 109 against MCC at Chislehurst.^[1] This is the first century known to have been scored for a Kent side in first-class cricket.^[2] He had already played for Kent against MCC and for the Players at Lord's during the season, but the match in which he scored his century is the last he played for a Kent representative side. The following season he played again for an England XI, again at Lord's and made his final first-class appearance for the Players.^[1][3]

The ropery at Chatham where Jordan worked

The reasons for Jordan's lack of first-class cricket after 1824 are unknown. In Scores and Biographies, Arthur Haygarth suggests that he may have been unwell,^[4] but he played four matches for the Players of Kent against the Gentlemen of Kent between 1826 and 1828. Haygarth also describes him in 1853―aged 60―as "a hearty, active man, still enjoying the sport of shooting and taking much exercise on foot",^[5] and The Sporting Magazine suggested that he may have lost form, and that his aggressive style of play may have made him likely to be out caught or stumped.^[4] It has also been suggested that his "manner was not liked by some of the aristocratic patrons of the sport",^[5] and that this may have alienated him from the amateur's who selected sides at the time.^[1] He is certainly known to have still been playing for Gillingham as late as 1833.^[1]

Jordan married Elizabeth Featherstone at Frindsbury in 1822. He received a dockyard pension, but was still working in the ropery at Chatham at the 1861 census.^[1] He died at Chatham in 1866 aged 73.^[6]

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